Even though I've taken the last few days away...a lot of stuff happened over the Thanksgiving holiday. One of which was the release of the new season of Mystery Science Theater 3000...over at Netflix. Season 12, otherwise known as The Gauntlet, features (primarily) the same crew from Season 11 in a binge-worthy six episode run. The horrible films the riff include Mac & Me, Atlantic Rim, Lords of the Deep, The Day Time Stopped, Killer Fish, and Ator the Fighting Eagle.

For me, I like the savor MST3K episodes...so I wasn't able to watch all six in one sitting - as prescribed. But it's quite possible your Turkey Day was non-stop riffing on bad flicks interspersed with a random football game or two.

For those of us who can't get enough bad movies - and funny people making bad movies, well, good movies - Mystery Science Theater 3000 is returning to Netflix this Thanksgiving (November 22nd 2018) with The Gauntlet. There will be six episodes this season, including riffing on the following films...some of which I have seen un-riffed:

Mac & MeAtlantic RimLord of the DeepThe Day Time EndedKiller Fish (I mentioned this movie on a previous toy review)Ator - The Fighting Eagle

On Saturday September 1st 2018, there was a super-secret pop-up Mystery Science Theater 3000 party at Space2 in Atlanta, GA. Actually, they were handing out invites to those folks who asked a question at the Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Panel. When I heard that...I decided to ask the cast a question.

The Saturday night mingle featured The Art of Mystery Science Theater 3000 The Comic #1 (from Dark Horse), with large posters featuring pages from the comic book adorning a single brick wall. Several members of the cast were in attendance. Jonah Ray and Joel Hodgson were donning those iconic Gizmonic jumpsuits (yellow and red, respectively). Rebecca Hanson, Tim Ryder, and Grant Baciocco were also there, albeit in much more pedestrian (and comfortable) attire. The only cast member in attendance at Dragon Con that was missing was Felicia Day (there was a girl dressed up as her character...if that helps).

The event had Bottomless Totino's Pizza Rolls (the bottomless being negated by the fine print - *While supplies last). When you read Issue #1, this will make a little more sense.

In all, there were about 30 or so people in attendance...nerding about over Mystery Science Theater 3000, art, and bad movies/comics. I took some photos along with a very short video. **I am afraid of taking Joel's picture, because - at a live event - I was told he's not a fan of having his photo taken (I can totally understand...I mean look at my photo alongside Jonah Ray below).

Richard Parks of RRParks CARDS has launched the Kickstarter campaign to fund the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Trading Cards Series Two. Series Two picks up right where Series One left off...with cards based on original seasons four, five, six and seven (plus a special subset covering the KTMA episodes). Series Two sees the end of the Joel era and the start of the Mike Nelson era...the end of the TV's Frank era and the start of the Pearl era.

The series will feature over 500 cards to collect, with various subsets, such as:

So...if you want everything, back at the $160.00 level. A full box, with 40 10-card packs, is available at the $75.00 level. And the nice thing...these are expected to begin shipping at the end of October 2018.

This project will be funded if it reaches its goal by Monday October 1st 2018 at 1:01AM ET.

As I say with all Kickstarter projects I post about. Remember...this is not a pre-order. There are many instances of crowd funded projects that have been funded never making good on their promised goods. So back all Kickstarters with caution. (I've backed several RRParksCARDS Kickstarters and have received everything with little/no delays. And I'm backing this one.)

On September 12th 2018, Dark Horse will be releasing Mystery Science Theater 3000 The Comic #1. The 32 page first issue bring the riffing of MST3K off of your television screen and onto the pages of a comic book. Created for comics by Joel Hodgson, the comic book finds some of your favorite occupants of The Satellite of Love foisted into the 1962 (thankfully, now, public domain) comic book Johnny Jason Teen Reporter. But Johnny Jason is played by Tom Servo.

I've been a big MST3K fan for a very long time. The show got me through many a year of college. And since then, I've turned my kids onto the show, back their Kickstarter project, and seen the first of two live shows. And even I was a little skeptical about how the concept (bringing MST3K to comics) would work. After reading the first issue...I'm sold.

Dark Horse, Joel, the other writers and artists have cobbled together something I've never seen before. It's a property that works equally well on the screen as the page...taking advantage of entirely different formats. Instead of sitting in front of the film and riffing, the characters are within the comic book making jokes. And you can see what's been changed by mark of the speech/thought bubbles.

My opinion: This is a must buy for Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans. Or fans of classic comic books. Or fans of things that are funny.

For a look at some of the pages, check out below. There's also a variant cover by longtime MST3K DVD artist Steve Vance. And if you're in the mood to read the original public domain comic Jonah and The Bots invade, check out Johnny Jason Teen Report #2 at ComicBook+. Spoiler Alert: the original isn't nearly as funny as the MST3K version.

If you attended Dragon Con 2018 and were a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000, there was plenty of time to "get your nerd on". While I missed Sunday's double feature event, I was able to make it to the "semi-official" unveiling of Mystery Science Theater 3000 the Comic #1 from Dark Horse.

The panel included MST3K regulars Joel Hodgson, Jonah Ray, Felicia Day, Rebecca Hanson, Tim Ryder, and Grant Baciocco. And they did a reading of the entire first issue. They played to a packed crowd, even taking several questions after concluding with the comic reading. Yours truly braved the masses and asked a question of the panel - after making a comment about Felicia Day's Twitch.tv alter-ego. The basic gist of my question was "has anyone run into a director or actor that they made fun of during an episode, and, if so, what was their reaction".

(Unfortunately I wasn't positive about recording policies in the panels...so I only snagged about 13 seconds of the read)

I have so many posts about Mystery Science Theater 3000 today, that I had to create a whole new category. So get ready to be inundated with all things MST3K.

And while you're preparing, remember that you can pick up tickets to the MST3K Live 30th Anniversary Tour. This year they'll be riffing The Brain and Deathstalker II. Plus, Joel will be donning the red jumpsuit and joining Jonah on stage with The Bots. I went last year's show in Richmond, VA and it was excellent. Had lots of fun. Brought my (then) 7 year old son to the show. The tour starts on October 9th 2018.

Also, there is still limited time to take part in the Season 12 Pledge Drive. A number of rewards are no longer available - because they're getting close to actual season - but you still have a shot at picking up some exclusive Season 12 swag.

Disenchantment is the new series from The Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Fans of The Simpsons and Futurama will no doubt be excited to see this series premiering on August 17th 2018. That's when the first 10 episodes will drop on Netflix.